the sweetest sixteenth
by Constance Greene
Summary: With the Host Club hosting her birthday, Haruhi knew it wouldn't be an ordinary one. — Happy birthday Jessica!


▪▫▪ ▪▫▪ ▪▫▪

yaay! this is a birthday fic for jessica ( tatikara ). and. it's her sixteenth birthday.  
so happy birthday! she's my best buddy on ffnet ( and elsewhere ) and she's a brilliant writer. today, you totally win, jess. like every other day. you damn well rock my world.  
i decided to write you my first ouran fic! XD my little brother was somewhat in on this, too.

it's a tamaki**x**haruhi and hikaru&kaoru**x**haruhi ordeal thing . . . and maybe hints of kyoya**x**haruhi. hope you enjoy.

_ouran high school host club_ is not mine.

··¤  
_t_he **s**w_ee_te_s_t **s**ix_tee_n_th_;;  
_for j e s s i c a_

♥

Today was Haruhi's sixteenth birthday.

She didn't want huge celebrations with lots of people and balloons and cake and presents. In fact, she was always quite selfless when it came to her birthdays: since her father wasn't rich ( 'poverty!', Tamaki would say ), she accepted the fact that he couldn't spend much on her, and was content to go about the day acting as though it was an ordinary one. Sixteen wasn't any different – she was just a year older than she had been the day before.

Haruhi _especially_ didn't want the Host Club knowing about her birthday. _What a disaster that would be . . . _She mused, letting her hand sift through her short-cropped hair casually as she walked into the local grocery store. It would be like her friends from high school learning that she lived in an apartment. Only worse; with explosions.

So, she decided to not tell them and ignored them for the day. It was summer, after all – she could get away with it. The teen slipped a shopping basket on her arm and made her way down the isles, browsing and occasionally lifting products from their racks and examining them, and then placing them into the basket. She was gathering materials for tonight's small birthday dinner that she was going to have with her father.

She quietly hummed the tune they were playing in the small store as she made her way to the back where the dairy products were located.

Everything was going so nicely.

.

_Shift shift shift._

_Shuffle shuffle shuffle._

A blue eye peered around a corner.

_There she is!_

'_Don't let her see you!'_

He remembered the twins' warning before he got out of the car. After catching a glimpse of black locks, the blond spun back behind the end of the isle, once again concealed.

He looked out the sliding glass doors he was now in the direction of and saw the black limousine parked out front, Hikaru and Kaoru making faces at him out the open windows. He made faces back at them.

The passenger seat's tinted window suddenly slid down. Kyoya appeared and rolled his grey eyes behind tilted glasses at him. "Just get her, Tamaki," He half-grumbled, half-called without anyone in the store but the blond hearing.

Right. He must follow/stalk Haruhi! Tamaki tip-toed stealthily towards one of the silvery baskets by the door, grabbing the handle with both of his hands. Hee hee, these were so fun!

"_Tamaki._"

But they also made noise. Of course; he must have forgotten.

The senior waved his hands in an impatient gesture: 'I know, I know!' and turned to walk down the isle he had just seen Haruhi go through. He could almost catch the faint whiff of her flowery perfume . . .

_Haruhi doesn't wear perfume, idiot._

"Kyoya, get out of my head!" He suddenly blurted, eyebrow twitching agitatedly. The few people scattered in the isle and looking at the shelves sent odd stares in his direction.

"Heheh, sorry good chaps!" He rubbed the back of his skull in what he hoped was a relaxed way. "I was just . . . erm . . ." What exactly was he doing? Being loud and obnoxious. That's what Tamaki did – no excuses allowed. "Anyway, I'm moving on now and will leave you to your eventful day of shopping. Goodbye!" Poor souls. They didn't have built-in swimming pools in their backyards the size of large ponds, or wide-screen TV to entertain them. Getting out of their cramped, small living places was about as good as it got for them.

He strolled down the cold, hard tile, bending his head around the corner once more as he reached the end. There she was, the love of his life! Oh, his darling daughter. At the moment he could positively beam with joy only by watching her select a quart of milk oh-so carefully with delicate hands . . .

Kyoya's warning continued to ring in his ears. Best to get a move on.

Being as silent as possible, the older teen stepped up behind her . . . and threw a black ribbon of cloth over her head!

"Gotcha!" He yelled over-excitedly.

"Graaah; Tamaki, what is this?" She struggled. She couldn't see anything in front of her – there was only darkness.

"I blindfolded you!" Tamaki giggled.

A man in a red vest rounded the corner and spotted the two, eyes narrowing with scrutinizing suspicion. Just what was that young man _doing _to that poor girl?

"Excuse me, _sir_," He said, trying to be both as serious and as threatening as possible, "but please take a step away from that innocent underage girl and _quit touching her there._"

Tamaki's eyes seemed to pop out as he looked back over his shoulder at the man. He quickly lowered his arm from Haruhi's front while she squirmed lightly and growled.

"I apologize, Mister, ah . . ." He squinted at the lapel on the man's vest. "_Store manager_! Aaah, I'm terribly sorry. It's just a game we play, sir! See!" Tamaki motioned to Haruhi with his free hand. "Hide and go seek in the grocery store! Because there are a lot of isles . . . and it's like a maze . . . and . . ." His voice faltered. How could you still hold up any amounts of your suaveness when you were being accused of molesting your friend? ( Not like Tamaki would _ever_ do that. )

"A little too old for games, it looks to me. Get out."

Without further ado, Tamaki swept the still-blindfolded girl down the rest of the isle and led her out towards the waiting carriage of royalty, majesty, and beauty . . . okay, this was getting old.

"What is your problem, Tamaki?" Haruhi snapped, sightless. "Where are you taking me—?"

She was cut off when she felt something small slam into her leg and cling to it.

"Haaaaaaaaru-chan! Happy sixteenth birthday!" The unmistakable voice of Hunny greeted her from below.

"So that's what this is all about?" She directed, still sourly, towards her captive.

Though she couldn't see it, Tamaki brushed away his bangs in a dramatic gesture. "Ah, the Host Club was so disappointed that you did not tell us of your birthday, Haruhi! We took it to our liberty to celebrate it with you; hope you don't mind."

"Oh, I don't mind at all . . ." The teenager trailed off cynically, glowering behind her blindfold. "I wonder who figured it out . . ." She continued with the same sarcasm dripping from her voice like venom, slipping the piece of cloth down her face part-way and glared at Kyoya with one eye, his steely lenses glinting as he returned her gaze and passed her a sly wink. Sneaky bastard.

She could just conjure the scene of her father and Kyoya talking together about her, the former gushing stories and facts animatedly to the latter, who was writing it all down in his notebook with a smug look of satisfaction on his face, in her mind. O, Discordia.

Tamaki broke this slightly disturbing ( and infuriating ) image. "Now now, Haruhi. No peeking!"

The girl growled shortly and tugged the rest of the blindfold back up so that she was safely oblivious to all that was around her – including the limousine's fancy interior ( not that she'd have any interest in it, anyway ).

"Where are we going?" Haruhi piped up after what had to be two minutes of driving time.

"We're going on a field trip, Haru!" Came Hikaru's devious voice.

"Don't worry, you'll like it," Kaoru added, not all that convincingly.

"In America, a girl's sixteenth birthday results in a huge celebration, because it's the time when they're considered a young woman to society." Tamaki explained in his most factual voice.

"Tamaki, we're not Americans." She pointed out plaintively.

"I know!" He waved her off. "But it's good culture mix, isn't it? Like commoners like you and us rich folk . . ."

Haruhi sighed, and gave up after a few more minutes of asking each of the boys, with no straight answer ( not even from Hunny, even when she tempted him with sweets ), and folded her arms across her chest in defeat.

She felt the car slow, its engine purring to a stop. Anxiously, she leaned forward. "Are we there, or did the engine just die?"

"If the engine died, we'd be dead," The older of the twins admitted, wincing.

"Come now, Haruhi – out!" She felt herself being jostled in the back by Tamaki.

"Tamaki, there's a door in my way," She growled.

"Excuse him; he's overly-excited – as usual," Kyoya commented dryly, cracking open the door for her.

She grumbled a thanks, reaching out blindly for something to hold onto – or for something in the way that she'd rather not hit. Her hand was grasped by a cool one that she supposed was Kyoya's, and was helped out of the elegant vehicle.

"Such a gentleman, Kyoya!" Tamaki chirped jovially. "Now, allow me." He placed his hand gently on the small of her back to guide her to . . . wherever.

"When are you going to take off my blindfold?" Haruhi asked intrusively, stumbling over what might have been a curb and nearly sprawling to the ground if not for Tamaki, who stopped her from falling with a stiff arm across her torso.

"Right . . . now," He said, untying it in the back and letting it flutter away. Her brown eyes widened slightly at the sight she saw before her.

"Wow . . . it's beautiful," She claimed, feeling dumb and at lack of words.

Splayed out before them was a gradual slope covered in grassy lawn, like thousands of shards of emerald. Below, spotted with shade-bearing trees, was a flat plain surrounding a sapphire blue lake, where a couple sail boats drifted lazily in the summer breeze. The tame waves sparkled, crested with diamonds created by the sunlight. People ran across the fields, laughing and playing and having a great old time. She felt a smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she looked on this sight, her six friends standing beside her.

After a few moments of silence, the leader spoke up. "Well, let's go." They all began to trudge down the hill, Hunny leaping into the plush grass and laughing as he rolled down the smooth decline. Mori followed close behind him, making sure he didn't scrape himself up on some rocks; the twins strolled with their hands in their pockets, talking in relatively quiet voices to each other and Kyoya seemed to be looking anywhere but at the rest of the group.

"I remember when I was sixteen . . ." Tamaki began almost dreamily, taking in a breath of fresh, clean air.

"But you aren't a girl, are you?" Hikaru quipped, winking devilishly.

They grew near their destination: a space in the shadow of a lofty tree. Haruhi thought vaguely of how it was a perfect spot for a picnic.

Ironically, Tamaki and Kyoya were carrying large picnic baskets – far more lavish than she had ever used before.

The blond shifted the basket over his arm. "You commoners have a lot of picnics, yes? How quaint they are! Everything here I've arranged are authentic commoner foodstuffs . . ."

Haruhi stopped where she saw a sight that didn't exactly fit his description of 'authentic commoner foodstuffs.'

"Like that?"

Before them was a relatively small table propped up in the middle of the grass, and on top of it was what appeared to be a multi-layered white wedding cake. Glazed ribbons wrapped around each level airily, bleached carnations and roses blossoming from the cake's sides. There seemed to be some kind of soft glitter to it, like freshly fallen snow; all in all, it looked beautiful – and delicious.

Mori took a checkered blanket out of one of the baskets and spread it out so that it billowed out above the ground like a balloon. Hunny dashed under it, letting the blanket fall over him like a cloak. He twirled around as though he were dancing, laughing – a joyous sound that rung throughout the park like a bell.

Tamaki darted up to the cake and stopped a couple steps away from it, leaning back and admiring it with his hands placed on his narrow hips. "Yes! Isn't it splendid?"

Kyoya stood off to the side of the cake, scribbling something down in his notepad. "I paid a lot for that, so you'd better eat it, Haruhi. No nonsense about you being on a diet." He didn't bother to look up as he was talking to her.

"_Hey_," She protested, lower lip tightening. "I'm not on a diet." She sent Kyoya a deathglare, whose eyes only silently smirked behind shadowed lenses.

Ignoring their conversation, Tamaki began to twirl around the stand with the cake, using his lengthy arms to show it off in a grand display of flourishes. "Six layers, ten pillars to hold it up! That equals sixteen!" He bragged with pride, eyes closed.

"Our Lord's very smart, eh?" Suggested Hikaru with a roll of his hazel-amber eyes, from his spot beneath the shade of the tree.

"Oh-so clever," Kaoru purred.

Haruhi took the time to inspect the magnificent cake more closely. She saw that on the highest layer were two small yet intricately-crafted dolls, one with black hair and one blond – a bride and groom. They looked curiously like the two people closest to the cake.

Her eyes narrowed. "And what're those?" Came her skeptical voice, directed to Tamaki.

Tamaki, however, didn't seem to have a problem with them being there at all. He leapt forward, and made it almost as though he'd embrace the cake; instead, he glomped Haruhi. "Aren't they ADORABLE?! I got them from the wedding shop. See Haruhi, here's me and there's y—"

"Pardon," Haruhi cut in forcefully, "I though this was a birthday, not a wedding."

The senior immediately stopped cuddling her and relaxed his hold so that she could detach herself. "Fine, if you're going to be that way . . ." With that mutter from under his breath, he slunk off to the tree and sat down, facing the trunk. It seemed to be Tamaki's designated corner for this park.

Haruhi shrugged lightly, figuring he'd sulk for a minute or two before recovering as he always did, and went off to help unpack the food. After a few plates filled with sandwiches and some kind of specialty salad ( she assumed it was Tamaki's attempt at cooking ) were lied out on the blanket, she turned around to find the cake gone.

The small boy with golden locks ( or rather, the culprit ) was plopped down where the dessert used to be, smacking his lips and looking overall pleased with himself.

"Yum." He chirruped, smiling.

Mori, seeing what he had done, stepped up to his cousin and loomed over him, intimidating as always. "Now Hunny," He began in his deep, serious voice, "you were supposed to share that cake. It's Haruhi's birthday."

Hunny didn't take too well to scorn. His lower lip poked out in a pout, trembling, and his eyes shone with tears. "I'm _sooooooooorry_," He whined. He seemed truly sad that he had supposedly spoiled the party.

Haruhi took over before the waterworks could start flowing. "It's OK!" She bent down and put her hands on her thighs to be eye-level with Hunny, and smiled. "I don't like sweets anyway. We'll find something else to eat."

Their leader, however, was torn. "My cake . . ." He mourned. But bounced back. "Ah, Haruhi, you're such a Good Samaritan!"

They sat and ate an assortment of different dishes: fish, sushi, more fish, rolls . . . yes, the author fails at Japanese culture; shut up. Once they were done, the twins hopped up and began to play Frisbee.

"Haruhi, catch!"

She twitched out of the way just in time – the red saucer went careening into the tree, right where Tamaki had just been walking. The twins then had a scolding lecture on how they had put Haruhi in danger, blah blah.

Haruhi wandered the park with various others, retreating back to the slim black car when day dwindled off into late afternoon. Tamaki was waiting there, with a basket similar to the ones used at the picnic propped on the hood of the limo and an arm casually resting upon it.

"What's this?" She raised her brows at the proffered 'gift' – or so she had gathered, from the extravagant crimson ribbon tied into a bow around it.

"Your birthday present, of course!"

"Isn't this enough?" She muttered, but Tamaki did not wait – he opened the top to the basket and beckoned her to look inside. She was almost scared to.

Haruhi peered inside the basket, and curled up within it was a small, greyish-brown form. She blinked her chocolate eyes, bending her arms to pick it up.

The thing squirmed tiredly, twisted, and yawned. It then opened its own dark eyes and mimicked her blink, poking out a salmon pink tongue from its mouth. A stubby tail wagged behind it.

"A puppy," She said, dazed and without much enthusiasm. "You gave me a puppy."

"Now Antoinette can have a playmate!"

"Its name is 'Armadillo,'" Hikaru commented in her left ear.

"Yeah, the Lord has strange names . . ." The other twin commented in her right.

Haruhi continued to stare helplessly ahead of her. "What am I going to do with a puppy in my small apartment . . ." She wondered.

Either her dad would, A: Become completely infatuated with the puppy and hog it all for himself ( which she wouldn't really mind ) and baby-talk to it ( which she would mind ), or B: Declare that there ABSOLUTELYWOULDNOTBE a puppy in their household. Both seemed like disasters to Haruhi as she envisioned them.

Tamaki frowned and snatched the puppy from her. "Fine. I'll take him!" He stalked off with the armadillo/puppy/Texas Speedbump cradled in his arms and got into the back seat of the car.

"It almost seems as though he was anticipating my answer . . ." She blew out a huff of breath.

"Or _I _did," Kyoya stated from behind. "It was his idea to buy the puppy for you, of course. I was the one who talked it over with your father, who made it clear that he didn't want one running around his house unattended."

"Was that after the conversation where you found out when my birthday was?"

"No, that's in the school records." His lips pulled into a slight smirk.

Haruhi made it clear that Kyoya was sly bastard and an ass by slamming the door to his private limousine rather loudly.

.

"Next stop, the be-each!" Hunny cried, delighted, and waved his hands so that they nearly knocked into Haruhi and Mori's faces.

"You aren't taking me home?" Questioned Haruhi to Kyoya, who was in the passenger seat.

"I thought you might like to make your amends with the beach because of last time. Don't fret; it's more heavily guarded to keep whatever we don't want, out."

Haruhi guessed she should just sit back and enjoy the rest of the ride.

Once they arrived, they branched off to the restrooms to get changed. Most of the boys had their swimsuits beneath their clothes, but Haruhi, not alerted and unprepared, had nothing to wear but her normal T-shirt and cargo shorts.

Mysteriously, there was a familiar bikini with frills on the top portion hanging up in the girl's bathroom. She scratched the back of her head and spun around, walking out of the enclosed restrooms and returning to the sun.

"Um . . ." With hesitation, her eyes swept the long and sandy beach for someone to help her find something else to wear.

A head of auburn hair poked out of the bushes lining the bathroom.

"Aww, why aren't you wearing it?"

"We left it in there for _you_," Kaoru insisted.

"I told you; I don't like bikinis . . ." She grimaced slightly.

"Haruhi, you'll look great in it." Hikaru said sternly, his green-tinted eyes focused on her seriously. "Just try it on."

Although she wanted to be convinced by the redhead, she continued to hesitate. And for a moment too long; Tamaki rounded the corner.

"What is going on here? Are you harassing Haruhi again?"

"They want me to wear this," She admitted embarrassedly, holding up the ruffled bathing suit.

"Daddy will _not_ allow it!"

"Ridiculous," Hikaru said, "you're just blinded by your playacting to see anything clearly. She's sixteen now. What the hell."

The two stood there facing each other with hardened looks on their faces, having a standoff in the middle of the beach. Haruhi inched a little closer to Kaoru, scared. She tried to guess at which one would burst into flames by magic first.

After a moment, Tamaki's jaw slackened. "Alright. But just for this once."

Kaoru leapt to Hikaru's side and both joined in in a triumphant "Haha, yes!"

Once changed ( and feeling horribly naked in her bathing suit, especially what with all the stares she got from Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru ), they walked to the pier where a ski boat with the rest of the Host Club in it was waiting.

"Ooooh, Haru-chan looks pretty!" Hunny exclaimed.

"Hmph." Kyoya did not glance up from his laptop, which he expected to bring onto the boat. And it would have been quite plausible – it was large and lofty, with leather seats and plenty of space.

Tamaki bent over with the bottle of sunscreen in his hands and made to lather some onto the exposed bare skin of Haruhi. Before his fingers could even brush against her arm, the twins pounced, spreading the cream all over her back and shoulders. _I'm being touched in places I shouldn't . . . _The girl looked vaguely violated and disturbed, but made little commotion until she snapped at them to stop.

The taller blond took lead of the boat, sitting back behind the wheel and smiling faintly as the wind tugged through his hair. Hunny sat at the edge, waving his arms that were equipped with little orange floaties and chuckling merrily as they raced through the water, cutting through the still blue like a slicing knife.

Mori searched around the storage space beneath the boat, returning with two water skis in his hands, which he held questioningly out, an eyebrow quirked.

"We have water skis, if anyone wants to try them," Kyoya explained smoothly, never breaking astride in his speech.

"Oh . . ." Haruhi piped up curiously, "I'd like to maybe try."

Tamaki spun his head around at this insane proclamation, nearly losing control of the wheel. "What?"

Haruhi was taking the sleek black skis from Mori. "I said, I want to try water skiing. I never have before; I think it'd be fun."

"No! It isn't! It's a dreadful, dreadful sport—"

Hikaru began to show her how to put them on.

"Daddy doesn't like this!"

Kaoru handed her the extension she was to hold onto while skiing.

"Haruhi, if you carry through with this, I'm stopping the boat!"

"It's okay, Tamaki!" She yelled over her shoulder from the stern of the boat. "I understand this," ( _I think_ ) "I'll be fine!"

While Tamaki expelled more jumbled words of garbage, the twins took over control of the boat. They squeezed into the single seat ( it wasn't that hard – they were both narrowly-built and the seat was huge, anyway ) and bickered over who would handle the wheel first, and then decided to control one side each.

Once in the water, floating contentedly within the slightly oversized life vest she was given, the two turned back to look at her. "Ready, Haruhi?" They asked in unison.

"Uh—" She tightened her grasp on the handle of the chord as it had slipped momentarily, "Ready!"

"Hold—"

"—On!"

The twins completed, shifting into gear and zooming forward into the horizon.

Haruhi felt herself being ripped up by an incredibly force, as if she was pushed into a standing position by God's giant hand from behind. She would have tumbled forwards, head-over-heels, if not for the save of cleverly ( impulsively ) lurching her head back and her chin up to balance herself straight over the water.

Tamaki was in the back, yelling cheerleader-like comments that she couldn't hear over the roar of the engine. The sea sprayed jets of water on either side of her, cooling her down – along with the wind, that was zipping past her and tearing the droplets of water off of her skin, drying her in a way. She wanted to wave, but didn't dare let go of her hold on the bar – the only thing besides gravity that was holding her up.

The twins, wild at the steering wheel, made a sudden sharp turn. "Watch out, Haruhi!" Their call wouldn't be heard, and there was an approaching wave made by their wake that was heading in her direction.

She scaled it, but at the last moment she was flying – and falling. On impact of the bump, she let go of the chord and fell back into the water with a splash, skis up.

Even though her ears were temporarily under water, she could still hear Tamaki screaming.

"_HARUHI_!! DON'T WORRY, DADDY'LL SAVE YOU!"

He dove in after her, narrowly missing the idling propeller and swimming out towards her with long, powerful strokes. She bobbed awkwardly on her back on the water's surface, as though she were floating in the Dead Sea.

"It's okay, I'm not drowning, the lifejacket lets me float . . ." She said as he came close, circling an arm around her back. Regardless, she was dragged to the shore. Again.

_I'm starting to feel an odd sensation of déjà vu. _Of course, she hoped it wouldn't end up the same way as last time.

He carried her once they reached the shallower parts, her hanging limply in his arms with her huge skis sticking straight up in the air.

"So here we are again . . ." She began.

"Here we are." He agreed shortly.

"You can't get mad at me this time for doing reckless things. You approved of it." She had to quickly remind him, lest he explode on her again.

"Barely." He seemed to try to laugh, but there only was a strangled noise that arose from his throat and a contorted expression on his face.

As they reached dry sand, he put her down. They walked side-by-side in silence, the backdrop of the dying tangerine sun melting into the rest of the sky behind them.

A silhouette appeared against the tantalizing background, swerving near the shore and heading towards the docks. Hikaru and Kaoru waved.

Tamaki and Haruhi didn't look back.

Without warning, Tamaki slung an arm around Haruhi's shoulders. She glanced at his hand, then up at him with her large eyes.

"Happy birthday, Haruhi," He said sincerely.

A smile slipped across her lips. "Thanks, Tamaki." The new sixteen year-old realized it was the first time she had told him thank you for all this the entire day.

The blond leaned in closer, drawing her towards him more. She didn't fight him; in fact, she seemed pulled in also, like two magnets with opposite ends. Their lips nearly brushed one another's when Tamaki jolted up all of a sudden, and Haruhi felt the gritty sensation of sand on the back of her legs.

"Hey, what were you two _lovebirds _doing?"

"Having fun without us?"

Hikaru and Kaoru stalked up behind them, Hikaru's mouth tugging into a frown and Kaoru's the same, though with more concern. Hikaru was quicker – Kaoru tried to reach for his arm to stop him from advancing, but his brother wrenched it away.

"Day's over, yeah? We're going back in the car to drop off Haruhi." He reported in a forced voice, as though he was talking between his teeth – which he most likely was from jealousy. The sophomore stayed close to the pair so they couldn't do anything that he wouldn't like to see.

"Did you have a good time?" Kaoru asked quietly at Haruhi's side.

"Yes," She said. "Where are the others?"

"They're waiting at the car."

.

The atmosphere between Hikaru, Kaoru and Tamaki was tense on the ride home. If anyone broke the silence, it'd be like shattering glass. Haruhi attempted to start a conversation between the three, but they said barely anything but one word each time. Kaoru stared moodily out the window, Hikaru held a dagger-like glare on the back of the driver's seat, and Tamaki was as cold and silent as ever. She sighed and finally gave up her uplifting comments on how great of a time she had, and thanked them all.

They piled out of the car as it pulled to a stop in front of the apartment building, Haruhi semi-wishing they wouldn't follow her into her house: who knew what would happen, what with the current problems between a select few of the Host Club members and her father added to the recipe. They did anyway, like faithful guard dogs at her heels.

They reached the door with heavy steps, and before she could raise a hand to knock, it flew open.

Revealing a very angry/worried cross-dresser.

"Haruhi! Oh, dear; get inside before you catch cold or something else awful that could happen to you."

Slightly perplexed, she walked through the doorway, her friends rushing inside before her dad decided to lock them out. Tamaki, last in line, got the door slammed shut on his face by some serious Dad-and-Hikaru teamwork.

He opened the door a minute later, face red and steaming.

Immediately finding his opportunity and taking no time to waste it, Haruhi's father spun on him.

"You abducted my daughter and held her captive somewhere! I can't believe it!" Kick. "Actually I can!" Kick. "That just makes me more furious!" Kick kick kick.

Tamaki stole a glance at the cupboard, probably wishing to slink off into it and grow him some more tasty mushrooms.

"And now she's all hurt because of you!" The brunette threw his last kick at Tamaki, sending him crashing to the floor.

"Kyoya, are you going to help me here?!" Tamaki called from the ground.

"No." The educated bastard pushed his glasses up his nose with his index and middle finger.

The father, seeing his work there as done, turned back to Haruhi. "Have another blanket, sweetie—"

"Dad, I'm fine." She glanced over at Tamaki, who was struggling to pull himself up off the ground with some difficulty. She heard the snapping of bones and winced slightly.

"And on your birthday, too . . ."

That seemed to remind a certain someone about the day and her age. The expressions on three different people appeared to clear. There was a build-up of more tension, and then . . .

"Can I marry your daughter?"

Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru all blurted out at the same time.

They blinked and looked at each other.

And then found themselves all on the ground and their heads not feeling too swell with another karate-kick from Haruhi's father.

Kyoya smirked an I-know-something-you-don't-know smirk from his corner of the room.

"Such disrespect! In my household! Get out, all of you! Shoooo!"

He waved them all out the door, the boys stumbling over each other and the twins pulling at each other's hair.

Once they were gone, Haruhi blew out a little breath of aftershock. "Wow . . . that was eventful."

"Don't worry honey. We've found a better boy for you than those hooligans." Her father explained, bending over to pick up a shoe that was left behind in the fray.

Haruhi's eyes widened slightly and she uttered a soft, surprised 'huh?' But she was, at the moment, far too exhausted/mixed-up to care. "Uh, I'm going to bed. 'Night."

"Good night, sweetie. And happy birthday."

"Yeah," She muttered under her breath with a slight smile creeping onto her lips as she retreated to her room. "Happy birthday."


End file.
